Three constitutive forms of superoxide dismutase activity have been demonstrated in the cyanobacterial marine picoplankter Synechococcus sp. WH 7803 using polyacrylamide gel activity staining techniques. A protein which gave a positive non-haem iron stain on native polyacrylamide gels exhibited N-terminal similarity to both the iron superoxide dismutase and the manganese superoxide dismutase of...

BACKGROUND The mucosal pathology of Helicobacter pylori infection may in part be due to excessive production of reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) by phagocytes. The influence of H pylori infection on mucosal superoxide dismutases, some major scavenger enzymes of ROM was investigated. In humans superoxidase dismutase is present in at least two forms-that is, mitochondrial manganese (Mn)-superox...

Copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase, manganese-containing superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase form the primary enzymic defense against toxic oxygen reduction metabolites. Such metabolites have been implicated in the damage brought about by ionizing radiation, as well as in the effects of several cytostatic compounds. These enzymes were analyzed in 31 differen...

The major superoxide dismutase ("slow" electromorph) of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been purified to homogeneity. This enzyme contains 2 Cu2+ and 2 Zn2+/molecule. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum indicates a lack of tryptophan. This enzyme has a molecular weight of 32,000 and is composed of two subunits of equal size, which are joined by noncovalent interactions. Cyanide at 1...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been shown to have a neuroprotective effect in brain ischemic injury. However, its molecular mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective role of the IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) by IL-6 in the reactive oxygen species defense system after transient focal cerebral ischemia (tFCI). METHODS IL-6 was injected i...

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) represent the major antioxidant defense system against superoxide anions (O2 ). Three isoforms of superoxide dismutase have been identified in mammals: copper-zinc SOD (Cu, ZnSOD), manganese SOD (Mn-SOD), and extracellular SOD (ecSOD). Cu, Znand Mn-SOD are localized intracellularly, whereas the last discovered SOD isoform, ecSOD,1 is secreted and bound to heparan su...

Staphylococcus aureus is a devastating mammalian pathogen for which the development of new therapeutic approaches is urgently needed due to the prevalence of antibiotic resistance. During infection pathogens must overcome the dual threats of host-imposed manganese starvation, termed nutritional immunity, and the oxidative burst of immune cells. These defenses function synergistically, as host-i...